COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY

Of their several great albums, for me, this is The One! The Holy Grail of Steely Dan Albums, and one of my all-time favorite albums. Blazing start with 'Bodhisattva', one of the greatest album-opening tracks ever. They are a real band here (prior to being a a mix of studio session players), and this one mostly rocks throughout (Skunk Baxter's guitar solos are tremendous). Contains what I consider the four pillars of Dan-dom: 'Bodhisattva', 'Your Gold Teeth', 'My Old School', and 'King of the World', but the rest are great as well. Perhaps the quirkiest, adventurous, and most eclectic of all their albums ('Show Biz Kids' is flat-out weird), but fantastic stuff all around. Never been another album quite like this, even among other Steely Dan albums. Best songs- the 4 pillars already mentioned, plus 'Razor Boy', 'Pearl of the Quarter'. Rating: Definite 5.0